ORR cheerleading fundraiser is for the birds; goal is Florida competition

Tuesday

Jan 22, 2013 at 12:01 AM

MATTAPOISETT — Beware, Tri-town area residents: you could be in line for a flocking.

Lauren Daley

MATTAPOISETT — Beware, Tri-town area residents: you could be in line for a flocking.

Meaning that you just might wake up tomorrow to find 25 plastic flamingos on your front lawn.

"People don't expect to wake up and see a flock of pink flamingos on their lawn. It's a fun, fun fundraiser," said Dawn Underhill of Rochester.

The money raised will help pay for a squad of ORR cheerleaders to get to the Universal Cheerleaders Association's National High School Cheerleading Championship at Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Fla. on Feb. 9 and 10.

The NHSCC is nationally televised on ESPN and ESPN2. The Cheerleader's Association was founded in 1974 with the goal "to inspire leadership on and off the field."

Underhill's daughter, Deianeira, or "Daya," is one of the 12 members of ORR's junior cheering squad, made up of eighth and ninth grade girls, who qualified for the National Championship by placing first in their division at The New England Cheer and Dance Championship in November at the Reggie Lewis Track Center in Boston.

"They didn't even know that you could qualify for Nationals at the Reggie Lewis event," said Underhill. "The judge said, 'We'll see you in Florida,' and they were shocked. The bus ride home was crazy. All the girls wanted to go."

Unfortunately, the win came with a price: it would cost $1,000 per cheerleader for plane tickets, hotel rooms, and meals — a whopping $12,000 for the team.

"We were thinking about a fundraiser idea, and I remembered when I was flocked last year, and how funny it was to wake up and see a bunch of pink flamingos on my lawn," said Edythe Saucier-Camboia, whose daughter Tessa is an eighth-grader and squad member.

Although the eighth-graders go to ORR Junior High, they opted to cheer at the high school junior varsity level with their long-time Pop Warner Cheering Coach, Patricia McArdle, rather than at the junior high.

Tessa, Daya, and their moms went on a flocking mission recently: "We went to a house in Mattapoisett," said Daya, 14. "It's fun because they don't know we're doing it, and it's dark."

Have they ever been caught pink-handed?

"We've had close calls, but no," Saucia-Camboia laughed.

She recalled being on the receiving end last year: "I woke up and went outside and saw a bunch of pink flamingos and laughed hysterically. My husband said, 'What's going on?' and I said 'We've been flocked!' You've got to have a sense of humor."

Saucier-Camboia's friends must have a sense of humor: she was targeted twice last year — once by members of a baseball team fundraising for new uniforms, and once for a Drama Club fundraiser, she said.

Of course, as she pointed out, the teams and their parents are only "the transportation."

"It's your friends who are writing the checks out and telling them to go flock you," she said.

When you wake up to 25 pink flamingos, one will have a note around its neck saying 'You've been flocked.' There's an envelope so you can write a check, and tell the flockers the address of where to strike next.

When the team comes to get the flamingos, they'll deliver them to the victim you requested.

If you want to know who fingered you, that type of inside information will cost another $10. And if you're scared of flamingos, you can buy "flocking insurance" for $20.

When Saucier-Camboia was flocked last year, she immediately sent the flock to her friend's house.

"A few days later, I drove by her house and saw the flock on her lawn," she said. "Her dog had a hard time distinguishing between the pink flamingos and the turkeys in town."

The team will be taking flocking orders until Feb. 2. To flock someone, email orrcheers@verizon.net or call (508) 763-5356 or (508) 667-6964. Flamingos are not allowed to flock outside of Tri-town area, on public property, or apartment complexes.